Longitudinal Teacher Education and Workforce Study (ltews) Final Report

1.1 Purpose of the Study

This study, titled the Longitudinal Teacher Education Workforce Study (LTEWS), is part of the Smarter Schools – Improving Teacher Quality National Partnership (TQNP) initiative. A key goal of the TQNP is to improve the quality and availability of teacher workforce data to better inform workforce planning. Two main priorities associated with this goal are the development of a national teaching workforce dataset and a longitudinal teacher workforce study. The work required for both priorities is being overseen by the Australian Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs Senior Officials Committee (AEEYSOC) Teaching Workforce Dataset Working Group. LTEWS is the second component of this work.

The purpose of LTEWS was to investigate the career progression of graduate teachers from teacher education into teaching employment in all states and territories across Australia and tracked their perceptions, over time, of the relevance and effectiveness of their teacher education program, specifically:

• 
  Career Progression: Tracking the career progression of the 2011 cohort of teacher education graduates from teacher education into, and possible exit from, teaching employment, including data on their utilisation into teaching, their retention and attrition in teaching in their early years, and their geographic and schools sector mobility.
  

• 
  Teacher Education Relevance and Quality: The views of teacher education graduates over time on the relevance and effectiveness of their teacher education for their teaching employment, including the relationship between their views of their teacher education and their early career teaching career.
  

The LTEWS study tracked the perceptions of graduate teachers’ level of preparedness and effectiveness in the seven Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership, 2011c):

1. 
   Know the students and how they learn
   
2. 
   Know the content and how to teach it
   
3. 
   Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
   
4. 
   Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
   
5. 
   Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning
   
6. 
   Engage in professional learning
   
7. 
   Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community
   

The LTEWS Graduate Teacher Surveys and Principal Surveys included nine other teaching areas that were the themes that had emerged from an extensive review of the research literature, conducted as part of the SETE study. These nine other themes were developed for the purpose of the SETE study. For the LTEWS study, analysis addressed the seven Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and three other key teaching areas specified in the contract:

1. 
   Teaching culturally, linguistically and socio-economically diverse learners
   
2. 
   Use of information and communications technologies (ICT)
   
3. 
   Literacy and numeracy
   

The structure of the surveys recognises the central role of standards in defining what teachers are expected to know and be able to do upon graduation. The perceptions of graduate teachers and principals have provided a comprehensive picture of the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs. The longitudinal aspect of the surveys has offered a perspective on the process of becoming a professional, as teachers transition from the in-service education to work. From the point of view of transition, teacher preparedness becomes tantamount to their employability and/or suitability for work in particular contexts. Graduate teacher effectiveness, from the longitudinal perspective, can be perceived as their progressive orientation towards quality teaching – a form of practice that is based on professional knowledge and skills, and constructed from a set of attributes, such as traits, behaviours, abilities or dispositions viewed as relevant to their work in diverse schools.

1.2 Structure of the Main Report

Chapter 2, Methodology reports the research focus of this study and the mixed method design, process, data collection and analysis of the graduate teacher and principal surveys, the mapping of teacher education programs and the graduate teacher interviews. The mapping of Initial Teacher Education Programs provides a point-in-time review of the initial teacher education programs across Australia as relevant for the 2011 graduate cohort of this study.

Chapter 3 presents findings related to the early career progression of graduate teachers who completed their teacher education programs in 2011. Career progression in this study refers to the entry into teacher education and possible exit from, teaching employment, including data on the utilisation of graduate teachers, their retention and attrition in the early years of teaching, and their geographic and schools sector mobility. Incorporated into this chapter of the report are survey data on early career progression, including employment, mobility and retention, with complementary qualitative data from the free text responses and the telephone follow-up interviews. Three rounds of surveys provide data to explore teacher early career pathways and progression. The data is analysed in two ways: firstly as three separate snapshots over the period March 2012 to March 2013; and, secondly from a longitudinal perspective on graduate teachers who were followed across this time period. The findings are also informed by the interview data collected between May 2012 and May 2013 after each survey round.

Chapter 4 reports findings on the relevance and effectiveness of teacher education. It situates itself within the context of ever-changing demands relating to the knowledge and skills of teachers that signals the need to continually review teacher education programs in order to show evidence that programs and procedures are effective and that they stay relevant to current and future needs. The chapter examines the nature of teacher education programs and the influence of the program structures and approaches on graduates’ career retention and advancement in the teaching profession. It begins by discussing the impact of teacher education programs on graduates’ decisions whether or not to seek teaching employment. This analysis is followed by the investigation of program structures, approaches and content considered by graduates and principals as being effective in preparing teachers for initial employment. These findings are cross-examined with the findings of the initial teacher education mapping in order to develop a sense of how the views of the three groups – graduate teachers, principals, teacher educators – correspond with respect to the purpose of initial teacher education. The chapter proceeds with the detailed discussion of the influence of the teacher education programs on graduates’ career retention and advancement. This is done through the examination of the type and measures of entry into teacher education programs and their influence on the graduate career pathway, the relevance and effectiveness of the practicum component, disciplines studied in teacher education programs and taught in schools, and preparation to teach culturally, linguistically and socially diverse learners, ICT and numeracy and literacy.

Chapter 5 provides a summary of the findings discussed in the main report and draws implications for policy and further research. It discusses the broad relevance of findings for teacher education reforms in Australia.

This main report is supported by an Appendices document which includes the Mapping of Initial Teacher Education Programs in Australia in 2011 report, the Graduate Teacher Survey instruments (Rounds 1, 2 and 3), the Principal Survey instruments (Rounds 1, 2 and 3), the teacher interview protocols (Rounds 1, 2 and 3), as well as standard error – margin of error information and information on the analysis of the data including factor analyses on the attraction to teaching scale and the preparation scale.

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